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My chemical engineering romance: combining STEM subjects with a care for the environment

Final-year student, Hugo van Son, reflects on his degree experience, research project and plans for the future.

Student in lab coat stands smiling to camera in laboratory amongst chemical engineering equipment
Hugo's research project focused on helping water treatment plants remove chromium(VI) for safer, cleaner water.
‘One of the biggest strengths of the chemical engineering department lies in the academics who are a part of it. They are very personable, approachable, and experienced. It makes learning all the more comfortable and productive.’
— Hugo van Son MEng Chemical Engineering with Environmental Engineering (2026)

For me, chemical engineering was the perfect blend of STEM subjects and a care for environmental improvement. This made a degree in chemical engineering a no-brainer as it combines all the topics I was most passionate about in school.

The university has a relaxed, friendly and welcoming environment. It allows students to express themselves freely and study however suits them best. It has bubbling societies in music and sports, making the experience here very enjoyable and engaging. This atmosphere is reflected in the city itself, making Bath a personal top choice university.

Reducing industrial pollutants

The most rewarding – and challenging – part of the course is the end-of-year coursework. In these courseworks you are asked to design a process from scratch with increasing detail and complexity each year. In the master’s year you move away from these design projects to a research project where you join an academic on their cutting-edge research for a semester.

My research project was on the mechanistic analysis of the performance of carbon nitride-barium titanate heterostructure as a piezo photocatalyst for chromium reduction. Chromium(VI) is one of the world's most abundant industrial pollutants - it's extremely toxic and significantly impacts soil, air, and water. Reducing or removing chromium(VI) is important for water treatment plants where water has to be clean and safe to release.

We aimed to change the toxic compound chromium(VI) to chromium(III). This would reduce toxicity and improve separability from water, using environmentally friendly technology. By doing this, we could help water treatment plants remove chromium(VI) from water.

Our method for changing chromium(VI) to chromium(III) was successful but we struggled to find optimum conditions for the process. Our chosen material for catalysing the change seems less effective than those previously explored in literature. The door remains open for us to combine the approaches used in this study with already proven materials to further improve their performance.

‘This project was very refreshing in comparison to what we’ve done before in the degree. It allowed us to apply what we’ve been studying for up to five years into something new, exciting, and real!’
— Hugo van Son MEng Chemical Engineering with Environmental Engineering

Challenging assumptions

The key to staying on track was to keep putting the hours in the lab and further investigating any interesting results. I learnt that when conducting research, it’s very important to keep an open mind. It’s very common to go into your project with many assumptions. You must be prepared to challenge these assumptions regardless of how fundamental they seem to your project.

I enjoyed the process of fabricating this new material and confirming the outcome of the fabrication process using the department's tools. Besides this, I loved getting to know and forming connections with new incredible people in the lab! Many academics describe the research project as a 'PhD taster' which to me was really useful. I have been planning to continue to do a PhD for quite a few years.

 After I graduate, I'm continuing at Bath as a PhD student with Dr Pengrui Jin and Professor John Chew. I will be researching new membrane applications. But first I plan to take many holidays over the summer!

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